Book Review: Anzac Nations by Rowan Light
Book Review: Anzac Nations by Rowan Light
8 November 2022
Historian and lecturer Rowan Light offers a compelling overview of our country’s observance of Anzac Day in his new book, highlighting how it has become more inclusive as we recognise First Nations and Maori battalions who fought for our freedom.
Cenotaphs throughout New Zealand and Australia are assembly points for commemorations yearly on 25 April. In Anzac Nations: The Legacy of Gallipoli in New Zealand and Australia 1965-2015, Rowan Light, a New Zealand-based academic, explores changes in Anzac Day ceremonies during the period 1965-2015, the second half of the century following the Gallipoli landing.
Light notes the changing and contested meanings of Anzac, the expanded role of the state in commemorations since 1990 and responses to these by Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.
In 1915, New Zealand forces included a highly respected Maori battalion, but Australia did not acknowledge our First Nations soldiers as such, making them hide in plain sight amongst fellow Aussie Anzacs.
Originally, Anzac Day services were planned and conducted by military chaplains who have now been given minor roles in an otherwise civic event. Light invites us to contemplate the future of Anzac Day.
This book is a rigorous examination of ongoing sociological changes to our annual recognition and celebration of 25 April. And as we approach Remembrance Day, it reminds us to reflect on the sacrifices service men, women, and people have made, and continue to make, to this day.
Anzac Nations is available at major bookstores and online.
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